electric heater question...

[Luca1369]

Hi,

  As winter approaches I am in the process of preparing for my first cold weather in my coach.  I'll be staying in an RV park this winter and will winterize the rig to keep the water flowing even on the coldest of nights (just outside Atlanta and it will get in the teens several times I'm sure). 

  My question is, with what brands of electric heaters have the members of this forum had experience?  I've seen a link for the Bionaire, but that's the only one I can find in regards to my search.  Anybody else have any ideas?  I used an oil/radiator in a stick house last winter in Ohio and, while they kept the place warm, took quite a while to warm up.

Thanks in advance.

Steve

 

[John From Detroit]

Well... I have uses several ranging from "Ten Dollar Specials" to some nice ones and I can give some genreal and a couple of specific comments..

First a general comment: Many campgrounds have a NO ELECTRIC HEATERS rule.... These suckers suck about 1500 watts per hour and this greatly runs up the camp's electric bill.....Of course My position is "You paid for it, you shoudl get to use it" but the management of the Campground generally does not share my opinion.

Second Some heaters (Pelonis for example) advertise how they are 2 or 3 time as efficent... NOt so, I don't care if it's a 1500 SUN HEAT or a 10 buck special..the efficency of an electric heater is exactly 100%, can not be anything else, since all losses express as heat and in this case heat is the desired product.

Now, Some comments about heaters

I have a Holems which is very nice, it has lasted a number of years and shows no signs of loosing it,Used it last week to good effect.. Holmes products weem to be well made.  The model I have has a T-Stat

I have... Somewhere.. A nice little ceramic.. Wish I could find it.. This one had a variable speed fan

I have another small "Cube" shaped ceramic (I think) I use in the ham shack in the winter, very nice.  Small and reliable

I have a "Gator" This is a Swamp cooler (Humidifier) with a heater added as an afterthough.. Not the best thing for a motor home or trailer due to it's construction (Though so far I"ve been able to fix those problems) but.. It's 2,000 watts, a genuine 2,000 watts,,Only one I've ever seen bigger than 1500 watts.

Ceramics in general, Like Polenis are also good quality.. But expensive

The "SunHeat" mentioned above is a quartz lamp in a housing, very large, I've never seen one up close, Expensive too.

Heaters come in several types.. Hot Wire (The 10 buck special is such a heater) get hot enough that if paper or lint gets in them it can start a fire.. Ceramics do not get this hot.  I'm told that the Quartz Lamp units do not either, Oil Filled (They look like an old fashion radiator) do not (As a rule)

You want to make sure it has some kind of tip over protection... I have seen two types both good.. One was a swinging weight, when it was straight up and down.. Heater worked

The other is a push button on the bottom of the heater.. When it's depressed (Would that be the righ tword for a button you push UP) by the floor.. Heater works.

All of 'em, even the 10 buck special had some kind of over temp protection.. Alas, many it was a thermal FUSE.. Blows but once.


As for brand recommendations:  There really is not a lot of difference in brands.. You need to look at it and look at the quality of construction and such.. If it's cheaply made.. Keep looking.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

The oil heaters are good but designed to be left on pretty much constantly. If you want quick spot heating, you need something with a fan and electric heating element.  The ceramic type is the best from a safety point of view and Walmart, Target, Lowes, etc. have lots of choices. They all heat fine, but some have noisier fans than others. Individual's tolerance for the fan noise varies too.

I recommended the Bionaire for small size and low noise. Some of the tower types are pretty quiet too. The get quiet by having less powerful fans, but you don't need a lot of fan in a small area.

Some common brands are Lasko, Honeywell, DeLonghi, & Holmes.  Each has numerous models and their features differ. So do the accuracy of their thermostats - we have had some models that let temps vary as much as 5-6 degrees around the set temp. Not good!

Whatever you get, try it out in the confines of the RV right away (even if it is hot out) so you can return it if the t-stat control is inaccurate or it too noisy for you.

 

[Luca1369]

Thank you John and Gary.  Gary, I got the Bionaire link from a post by you in another thread. 

I'm looking at several ceramic type heaters, Holmes, Bionaire, and Honeywell, that have caught my eye and have had good reviews. 

One of my biggest concerns is the wattage. While some have dual settings, say 950 and 1500 watts, I'm wondering if the wiring in my Southwind is adequate (I have 30amp service).  The radiators I used last year in Ohio used 1500 watts on the high setting and you certainly could not plug two into the same circuit.  One of the receptacles burnt out and had to be replaced (the one in the living room which stayed on 24/7 during the peak cold periods), so you see why I'm worried. 

I have a rooftop AC that also has a heat setting in the front of the coach, and a propane furnace, but I really don't want to use the furnace unless absolutely necessary due to the cost of propane and the fact that from what I have read, they use a LOT of propane.  That's why I'm considering two small electric heaters, one for the front and one for the bedroom.  I also have a electric/propane water heater, currently running on propane because I'm scared to run it on electric at the same time I'm using the AC.  The water heater does not run constantly, rather I'll turn it on a good hour before I need hot water for washing or for a shower, and then turn it off (the tank seems to hold hot water overnight quite well).  Of course, I'm sure there are some tricks I could learn from the more experienced members of this forum as this is my first winter. 

Steve

 

[Bill P.]

Steve,  we have a Newair carbon heater that has wattage settings of 400 and 800.  It oscillates and heats up without any fan noise.  Bill

 

[Jeff]

I found a Holmes that has Hi and Lo heat that ALSO lowers the fan RPM's when you go to low that really helps the noise. The other one we have as well as those we have worn out all keep the fan at one speed.

 

[John From Detroit]

Most all electric  heaters are 1500 watt on high, SOME have a low or even a low and medium,  Low when it exists by itself is usually 1/2 of 1500,  If you have 3 settings they are 500, 1000, 1500  and yes, one to a circuit

1500 wats is right close to 15 amps, which is the circuit rating (1500/120=12.5) 15*.8=12, it's suggested you not load a 15 amp  breaker much beyond 12 amps constant)

Though I have seen a few small ones (say 1,000 watts max) that 1500 is common to most all of 'em

 

[rjf7g]

I really like the Honeywell heaters that Wal-Mart sells.  They may be a little on the expensive side, but they have a ton of safety features AND, they heat up a camper nicely!

 

[Lou Schneider]

One of the receptacles burnt out and had to be replaced (the one in the living room which stayed on 24/7 during the peak cold periods), so you see why I'm worried.

So go ahead and replace the outlet you'll be using for the heater.  There are several grades of outlets, from commercial quality (a couple of bucks each) down to the 47 cent specials.  You get what you pay for - the higher priced outlets have better contacts, etc. that let them carry high currents without heating up.  Lower priced outlets have the minimum amount of copper required for intermittant, light duty and as you noted tend to overheat with extended high current use.  The quality of outlets installed in most RVs tends to be on the low end of the scale.

RV wiring is run daisy-chain from one outlet to the next so you have to be sure the outlets in between the circuit panel and the one you're plugged into aren't also heating up from the current passing through them.  To get around this, I installed a dedicated outlet for my heater next to the circuit breaker panel.  Being centrally located, a heater plugged into this outlet can be placed to warm either the main living area or the bedroom.  Since the panel was full and I couldn't install any more breakers, I got a 20 amp rated outlet and wired it to the existing 20 amp air conditioner circuit breaker - the idea being I wouldn't want to run the air conditioner and heater at the same time.

 

[joelmyer]

We camped last spring in Montgomery at the Maxwell AFB FamCamp where students attending some school there use the FamCamp.

I noticed several campers had red extension cords snaking into the campers.  I asked one of them and learned that they used the extension cord for a second electric heater.

Joel

 

[riverotter]

  We bought the Lasko oscillating tower heater at Menard's on sale about $25.00 (can't remember model off hand), it has the usual 2 wattage settings also two fan settings. The tower has a digital temp read out & remote (which we have never used, it works, but it's not like your a long ways away from the heater). The heater is very, very quiet also since it oscillates it give off a very even, comfortable heat, shuts off when set temp is reached & turns back on when temp. drops  5-7 degrees.  IMO the best one We've bought so far. It also has the auto shut off if it tips or falls over.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

A 30A supply equals at most 3600 watts and that is very limiting when it comes to heating with electric. If you use your roof a/c heater (probably electric heat strips) it likely uses 1200-1500 watts all by itself. And each heater uses 1500 watts on high and something like 900-1000 watts on Low, so the roof unit and one heater pretty much uses all you have. Remember, the fridge and water heater are also using electric at times (unless you switch them to LP mode, which is probably going to be necessary). Bottom line is youcannot do a lot of electric heating with only 30A to play with.

As Joel suggests, you can run an extra extension cord in for a second heater IF you have an additional external power source above and beyond the 30A outlet on the power pole.

 

[scottydl]

One of my biggest concerns is the wattage. While some have dual settings, say 950 and 1500 watts, I'm wondering if the wiring in my Southwind is adequate (I have 30amp service).

I used two electric heaters pretty successfully in my 30-amp Thor (one on each end of the rig) when it was getting down in the 40's early this season.  One is portable a Holmes radiator-style (on wheels) that worked great up front to provide constant low heat.  The other is a Pelonis rotating cube w/ fan that I actually bought from Gary here last year.  We used that in the rear bedroom, to "preheat" it before bedtime and keep the bedroom warm at night.  During the chilly (but not downright cold) daytime, I'd set the Pelonis cube out on the dinette table top and have it rotate- that little thing alone kept the motorhome warm just by itself.  Using the electric heaters in conjunction with the furnace worked pretty well - the furnace hardly ever kicked on.  I did learn that with both heaters on, no other "high drain" item could be used without blowing something.  My wife tried the hair dryer once, and the breaker tripped outside at the main power box.  Once I reset it everything was fine.

 

[Luca1369]

Thank you all very much.  Some of the heaters you have suggested are the very ones I'm researching.  Lou had a good idea about replacing the outlet I plan to use, I think I'll do that (an ounce of prevention...)

I'm used to doing a balancing act with the electric here.  My fridge is on shore power and the water heater on propane, and even with that I cannot run the AC and the dryer or the AC and the microwave (for over a minute) without blowing a circuit breaker either inside the coach or at the pole.  And there's no second electric outlet so an extension is out of the question. 

I suppose I'll have to use the forward rooftop AC for heat during the day and then use an electric unit in the bedroom at night (shutting off the forward AC).  I don't plan to use the furnace very much at all unless it's REALLY COLD!!!

Again, thanks for all your suggestions!  There's nothing like the voice of experience!

Steve

 

[Karl]

Although I like it QUIET when I sleep (but the tv can be on all night), I've yet to find a small fan type heater that I've been happy with, so I finally broke down and bought a Kenwood (a.k.a. Pelonis, et al) oil-filled radiator heater just for yuks for use in the bedroom/bath area. Because there is no fan, I was not expecting great performance, but was pleasantly surprised. Stuck in one corner of the BR, it heated it up the whole area surprisingly quickly, and the convection air currents mixed the air in the room quite well - no hot/cold spots, and it is completely silent. You can touch the unit anywhere without fear of starting a fire, and it has two independently switchable heating elements for 600, 900, or 1200 watts settings. A separate thermostat maintains the temperature quite well within about a 3 degree range. For $37.99 + tax. I think it's a good investment. The downside is its' bigger footprint when in use or in storage. There are other models available with electronic timers and remote controls, but I wouldn't trust them to operate properly on modified sine wave even if I had enough battery power to use it while boondocking; roughly 50A on the 600 watt setting.

 

[Jeff]

Karl:

I brought one of them home last winter but Sue made me take it back when she saw how much room it took up in the front room.

 

[Ron]

Karl:

I brought one of them home last winter but Sue made me take it back when she saw how much room it took up in the front room.

Good to know you still get the last two words in Jeff. ;D ;D

 

[Jeff]

I've learned them well.

 

[Karl]

Jeff,

The oil-filled unit sits in an unused corner of the bedroom and the rest of the coach is heated by a small cube ceramic heater in the living room. Its only used during the day when occupied and gets shut down at night - no need to run it while I'm sleeping. Hercule, The Attack Cat, doesn't seem to mind as he sleeps on top of the comforter on the bed Because I boondock quite often, I also have a catalytic propane heater mounted in the kitchen area. With a small 4" 12VDC blower to circulate the air, it does a fairly good job keeping the whole coach reasonably warm. Not great, but it uses much less battery power than the regular furnaces and is safe to use indoors with minimal window openings.